Saturday, December 22, 2007

Will the world fall apart if you don't do everything on your list by Christmas Day ?Having a happy person around is the best gift you can give, not to mention how contagious true contentment and joy is to those who observe it.Do things because you want to, not because you have to.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

I have bought wools from you that glow. How do get the glow effect from the dye pot?

Also, what do you mean by not taking the "joy" out when you have a lot of clouds or snow?

Thanks!

Lawanna

I love things that glow !In the dye pot there are ways to accomplish this by using the same thoughtfulness as when we want to create glow when we hook.

Use the knowledge you have of using light against dark, bright against dull, cool against warm , complementary.... you know what I mean.

If I want to make a glowing blue, I would use some turquoise in it.

Glowing red I would try having some orange spots, or fuschia ones..... Does that make sense to you ?

Taking the joy out ... that means using a white that isn't the correct one for the palette. A wrong white can really ruin the effect we usually want from that white.

You want the clouds or snow to reflect the surroundings, Try googling images of cloud or snow and you'll soon see what I mean. Paintings especially point out the importance of "the right white " or what will appear white or act white for any given palette. Paintings are more apt to be using expressive colour or more imaginative or enhanced colour than we might be able to see. Take look at the picture of the birch tree, my it was like looking at a rainbow !!!!

Taking the joy out, or settling for any old white will leave your white areas flat looking. Does this help?

One thing that will really point out the importance of the correct acting whites (or any colour for that matter ) is a site called segmation.com

Look for a snow picture or a sky with clouds. Click on segplay FREE > choose a pattern. Thanks for asking dear Lawanna.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Where I started hooking light background were the bomb , most every one used them most all the time. As an avowed daughter of darkness I wasn't too interested in them but did notice they did not often "match " the motifs in the rug. Dyed with various tan, brown, gray type colours they seldom had the reactive, supportive influence on the leading ladies we might desire.

I've had very good success dyeing light backgrounds with vivacity the following ways:

Making a very light spot dye of the colours contained in the motifs. You might first examine if the colour should swing to the warm or cool. For instance, if my rug is composed of blue and purple pansies I might chose to use a hint of warm purple, the warm green, caramel and gold you find in the pansy center to create my spot to alleviate all the cool flowers and to further intensify the coolness by laying them on the warm background. The pastel value spot is a great way to enhance what you already see in the rug and it's quick and easy.

Another way I like to go is to dye up pastels of 9 or so of my dyes from different sections of the colour wheel, making them all the same level of value and intensity.I use these all together by ripping all the pastel pieces in half , cutting these up, throwing them in a bag and hooking them as they come out on half the rug. When it's done cut up the other half of the pastels and carry on completeing my rug. This is terrific ! You can throw a tied off hank of yarn into each dye bath if you want yarn to match the edge too.

Make sure you light background is not something that takes all the "joy" out of your main picture. This would include any areas of light colour in a rug, white house, clouds,snow, you get the drift ! ( that was punny ) Happy and expansive hooking. BTW If you have any questions at all I'd love to answer them, just send them into the blog....

Thursday, December 13, 2007

The Divine Lawanna Holmes of Minneapolis MN saidI love the way the colors glow ( in your rug October). How did you dothat?

I am Big on the Glow !!!!I make it happen a group of different ways.

Visual Excitement:

I use opposite colours together!

Blending: Using like value and temperature colours to create one ( I usually throw in a close but other temperature colour in there like burgundy with a mostly blue, green, purple situation.

Gradation:If I'm making something red as I go toward the edges of the motif I'll switch to orange, then yellow if I want to really make a BIG glow. You can do this with cool colours too, just always work toward the bright.

So If I'm making something blue, I could layer blue violet on the blue, then violet, the red violet.... OR I could go blue to blue green to green to yellow green. One of my hookers is doing just that in a sky, she is indicating a glowing dawn with a subtle yellow green on the horizon. Go Dayle !!!

Sometimes I build gradation into the wool by having a piece dyed that travels through 3 colours and creates 2 more where they overlap and combine in the pan. I just hook that wool as is and it glows because I usually dye it from a lighter colour to a darker one or a brighter one to a duller one.

This brings me to Settings and Jewels. I use a dull background with a brighter motif and that creates glow but the dull you chose needs to relate well to the bright and they must enhance each other.

Light against DarkHere is the last way I create glow. I make sure I have places where there are good degrees of value separation between my motif and background.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

There comes a time in every hooker's life where we want more stimulation from our backgrounds.I'm of the school that more is better.Especially in backgrounds.

If you can have minor variance in colour from a source of leftover stuff or from one off the bolt colour of wool wouldn't that be great ?

There are two ways to go about this for dark and medium backgrounds.

Method One

Grab a bunch of various coloured wool from around the whole colour wheel.Over dye them in a big pot with lots of various colours close to where you are aiming for ..... for blue try adding 3 blues, turquoise, violet, blue greens and a wild card like red violet.... you get the picture. I use dry dye added into the pot at different points. NO STIRRING at first. Add acid about 15 minutes into the process. Wait 5 minutes and stir, leave until water clears.

The footstool background pictured is hooked with one of these giant stew pots ! Michele Micarelli showed me this trick.

Method Two

Divide your yd goods into 1/4 or 1/2 yd pieces if it is a big rug.Decide what influence you want to employ, a cool collection of wool, warm or a combination of both.If I had eggplant wool I wanted to enrich to be cooler, I would add a cool colour, blue, green , purple to each 1/4 to 1/2 yd. piece.

If I was warming up eggplant I would over dye each piece with one warm colour, orange, yellow, red, brown, red violet.

I usually take the combo route so will seek to do some colours from each side of the colour wheel.ie: blue for one 1/4, brown for another, violet for the next, orange for one and red for another and so on.Each dye subtly influences the original colour and used together it's glorious.

Once these are cut up and used randomly they create a glowing effect much better than an a flat or mottled piece of one coloured wool.

I tell you about making terrific , easy and individual light backgrounds soon.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Hi All, This journal rug challenge from the Welcome Mat felt like it might never get done. But sure enough, one loop after another I finished last night. Now on to getting Rug November and Rug December on the go tonight. I'm doing a picture of pixelated pears for November with my dear friend Lawanna, she's hooking it too, and a portrait of my daughter Thea that glows. Into the light we go !

Monday, December 3, 2007

Once you learn how to bring up a loop the only thing we need to know is how to use colour effectively.We might be good at putting colours together, but are we good at making sure our rugs have value contrast ?

Not usually.

We don't have areas of really dark to really light in our rugs.

We have one or the other or lots of medium values.

This does not make for a glorious rug.

To see rugs from a distance and let them still have discernible motifs and drama we need think rethink how we use colour as rug hookers.

To recognize the values ( light to dark ) as you colour plan look through a camera set to black and white at your wool selection.You might be surprised how many of the very different colours you chose are the same value. And how they will blend and bleed together as your rug is viewed from any distance, say over 8 feet.

Here is a picture of wool, and the same wool in black and white.... hmmmmWhat do you think ?